One must understand that Rich is actually a highly trained, very accomplished rifleman, and he is used to a certain level of sophistication in his chosen weapons.
The words "State of the Science" come to mind.
I admit that I threw him an unintentional curve when I handed him a rifle based on a
120 year old design.
Out of fairness to him, and a desire to remain friends, I accept full responsibility for the attendant confusion (and subsequent humor value). I feel that this is the least I can do.

The rifle in question, "funky sight" wise, was a Winchester 94/22, with the standard buckhorn type sights found on that model.
Rich was impressed by the color and pattern of the stock. I explained that walnut wood stocks usually looked about like that.
He asked incredulously,"Wood? On a gun?"

The first thing that Rich did was to try to mount a bayonet and Surefire light on it, but the mechanical facility for doing so was not a part of the basic equipment found on the rifle.
Thank God for duct tape, found of course in Rich's pack, just to the left of the 10KW emergency generator.

He was clearly confused by the sights, which required no glass, batteries, switches, reticles, knobs, lasers, detatchable mounts, or maintenance.
The tubular magazine also proved challenging, as it did not require removal from the weapon in order to reload. I reassembled the weapon after his first solo reload attempt, and explained that the bullets go in pointy end up. He had no further problems with that aspect of the manual of arms for the weapon.

You could see him fidgeting and fuming as he tried to estimate exact ranges clear out to 100 yards with only the height of the front sight to go by.
After a while he seemed to get the hang of it. He discovered that range could be estimated by running up to the last known position of the target, and counting paces...